Dissolution and Reintegration in Finland, 1914–1932: How did a Disarmed Country Become Absorbed into Brutalization?

Abstract

Finland avoided participation in the Great War, but in 1918 fell into a short civil war that culminated in a cycle of vicious terror. The focus of this article is to explain the high incidence of terror during that civil war in comparison with other civil wars that took place in the Baltic region. The violent polarization of Finnish society was triggered as reform expectations skyrocketed at the moment when the country’s institutions were in chaos and its economy in a free fall. Mutual distrust, armed mobilizations, and a sense that time was running out in the arms race were key factors that drove both warring parties to the violent conflict. The author concludes with a discussion of the reintegration of the dissolved state. He frames the conflict within various psychological theories and group behavior in the context of economic possibilities and expectations. The article is based on his own empirical research and on the studies of other scholars on the history of the Finnish Civil War.

Keywords:

• political terror
• violence
• Finnish Civil War
• psychohistory
• heuristic biases
• projective identification

Notes

1. One researcher claims to have found evidence of even more casualties on the basis of comparison of the lists of residency (Tukkinen 2010).

2. See also National Archives (Helsinki), the memoirs in the War of Liberation Collection (Suomen Vapaussodan Itsenäisyysarkisto (C 9 12/II) from 1938, numbers 49, p. 15, and 52, pp. 12–3, 70, pp. 25–7, (file 4), p. 79, 15, 95, pp. 106–7 (file 5), p. 117, p. 10 (file 6).

3. Quoted from the testimony of Arvid Adamsson, VRYO (Special Court for Crimes against the State) 25,538–25,543, National Archives, Helsinki.

4. “Vain kaksi puoluetta [Only two parties].” Työ, 3 March 1918.

5. “Suomalainen työmies, nyt sinulta vaaditaan miehuuttam [You, Finnish worker! Manhood is now expected from you!].” Työ, 8 4 April 1918.

6. “Hallitus ja kansa [The government and the people].” Työmies, 28 January 1918; “Porvaristo ja työläisten taistelu leivästä [The bourgeoisie and workers’ struggle for bread].” Kansan Lehti (21 November 1917), and “Vilppulan kirje [A letter from Vilppula].” Kansan Lehti, 21 November 1917, and 9 January 1918; Yrjö Sirola’s open letter to the novelist Aho (1918), as a comment for the diary published during 1917–1918 by Aho (Hajamietteitä kapinaviikoilta [Diverse thoughts from the weeks of the Red rebellion]). Sosialistinen aikakauslehti, 1.

7. I use the concept “containment” to describe any constructive processing of overwhelming emotions. The model of “container-contained” in the Bionian-Kleinian tradition of psychoanalysis conceptualizes the processes of primary care and psychotherapy, in which the caregiver/therapist offers his/her more stable psyche to assuage the anxieties and aggressions of the child/the patient and change these into a more manageable form. This sharing of emotions takes place by means of projective identifications: a person’s emotions and problems can be experienced by another as if they were his/her own. On the level of large groups, malign projective identifications are well known in war propaganda and witch hunts, but I have also dealt with benign circles of building up mutual trust (Siltala 1999).

8. “Vanhusten ja lasten, leskien ja orpojen kyyneleet kuivataan [The tears of the old and the children, of widows and orphans shall be dried].” Työmies, 3 February 1918.

9. Military Archive/National Arvhives, T. 15,834–5/06, S. Porttila; Ylikangas 1993, 287. See also a similar quotation from K. Isännäinen in the memories of 1918, vol. 3, (Finnish Literature Society), and Rislakki 2007, 97–9.

10. In Finland, the organic metaphor of “self-purification” was more widespread than the concept of “national sin” to be pardoned by the blood of the sinners. Enforced expiation prevailed in France during the restoration period, while the winners of the Spanish Civil War cultivated flesh-cutting imagery and the concept of “collective sin” simultaneously. See Fureix (2006) (especially chapters 4–6); Beevor (2006) (especially chapters 33, 35).

11. “Krönika [Chronicle].”Hufvudstadsbladet, 2 August 1918.

12. “Maaseudulta. Haminalaiset verihurttain uhreina [News from the countryside. The inhabitants of Hamina as victims of blood hounds].” Helsingin Sanomat, May 11, 1918.

13. ”Vapauden hinta [The price of freedom 1918].” Uusi Päivä, 26 January 1918; ”Lippujen alle [Under the flags].” Ilkka, 8 February 2018; ”Miten heidän kanssaan on tehtävä? [How to handle them?].” Ilkka, 20 February 1918; “Pari sanaa Pohjanmaan rehellisille sosialisteille [Some words for the honest socialists in western Finland].” Ilkka, 25 March 1918; “Katsaus maailman menoon [Outlook on the world].” Ilkka, 11 May 1918; “Under den röda terrorn. Marginalnoter fron de 75 dagarna [Under the Red terror. Notes in the margin from those 75 days].” Hufvudstadsbladet, 8 April 1918; “Resningsarbetet [Work of cleansing]”, Hufvudstadsbladet, 21 April 1918; “Behandlingen af de fängslade upproriska [The treatment of the imprisoned rebels].” Hufvudstadsbladet, 23 April 1918; “En stark regeringsmakt och tryggad ordning [A strong government and a secure order].” Hufvudstadsbladet, 18 May 1918; “Extra ordinära fullmakter för regeringen [Exceptional authorization for the government].” Hufvudstadsbladet, 19 May 1918; “Kansantalo ja sen henki [The house of the workers and its spirit].” Helsingin Sanomat, 28 April 1918; “Kunnia [Honour].” Helsingin Sanomat, 26 June 1918.

14. “Den hvita terrorn. De röda fångarnas behandling [The alleged ‘White terror.’ About the treatment of Red prisoners].”Hufvudstadsbladet, 29 May 1918. Compare with “Protocols of the Social Democrat Party Council (28, 29 and 30 October 1917).” The Finnish Labour Archives (Helsinki), F. 2–24, 27–44. 329.5 (471); “Me vaadimme [We demand]!” Työmies, 1 November 1917; “Työväen taistelu leivän ja oikeuden puolesta [Workers’ struggle for bread and justice].” Työmies, 20 November 1917; “Porvaristomme valtiollinen syyntakeettomuus [Political irresponsibility of our bourgeoisie].” Työmies, 23 November 1917; “Hävitetäänkö työväenliike? Nuoren Suomen Tasavallan ‘hallituksen’ sodan julistus työväen luokalle [Will the workers’ movement be destroyed? The declaration of war by the young Finnish Republic for the working class].” Työmies, 27 January 1918.

15. “‘Den hvita terrorn.’ De röda fångarnas behandling [The so-called White terror. The treatment of Red prisoners].” Hufvudstadsbladet, May 29,1918. About the contagion due to intercourse with Russians, see also “Olot Hämeenlinnan vankileirissä (The conditions in the prison camp in Hämeenlinna).” Uusi Suometar, 30 June 1918.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Juha Siltala

Juha Siltala is Professor of Finnish History at the Department of Philosophy, History, Culture, and Art Studies, University of Helsinki. His research interests include economic history and psychohistory, civilization and violence, and collective and individual behavior ([email protected]).